Raayan

Raayan presents old wine in a slightly different and interesting new bottle, offering a familiar yet somewhat fresh take on the revenge thriller genre.

Dhanush, the actor and director, stands tall in a film powered by AR Rahman's brilliant music, and top-notch performances only to fall just short of realising its potential. Despite all this coming together, the fact that Raayan doesn't soar high enough is a disappointment.

Dhanush, in his second directorial, brilliantly mounts a world true to the genre and even achieves emotional connect, which soon falters as the writing struggles to maintain the momentum established in the first half.

Dhanush deserves credit for imagining a visually rich, edgy action thriller which is enhanced by a fascinating background score from A R Rahman. What also lets down Raayan is the failure to turn an ordinary revenge story into something extraordinary that we haven't seen before. Overall, Raayan is an interesting one-time watch written for the masses with a little meat here and there for the critics to bite on.

Dhanush ensures that we never forget that this is first and foremost an emotionally charged drama, so despite all the heroism and bloodshed that we see on screen (the filmmakers also deserve praise for going with the 'A' rating) , we care for how the events affect the bond between these brothers and their sister. That is his biggest success as a director.

Dhanush donned the hat of director, actor and writer for his 50th film. The revenge thriller is riveting, but not without flaws.